CW//brief mentions of sexual abuse and abusers 

When, why, and how did the rabbis of the Talmud excommunicate people? How did they craft a narrative of powerlessness to invest themselves with more power?

Rabbi Dr. Meesh Hammer-Kossoy is the Director of the Pardes Year Program at the Pardes Institute of Jewish Studies in Jerusalem. In 2015, Meesh completed her studies at Beit Midrash Har’el and received ordination from Rabbi Herzl Hefter and Rabbi Daniel Sperber.  She has a PhD in Talmud from New York University, and her dissertation explores the ways in which the rabbis of the Talmud created a criminal punishment system. 

Special thanks to our executive producer, Adina Karp

View a source sheet for this episode www.sefaria.org/sheets/379348.

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Music from https://filmmusic.io

"Midnight Tale" by Kevin MacLeod (https://incompetech.com)

License: CC BY (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)